Springfield

Location from The Simpsons by Matt Groening / Fox

A mid-sized American town in a state no one agrees on — the most average place on earth, and therefore the place where everything happens.

Springfield is everywhere and nowhere — the show's deliberate refusal to specify which state it's in is the point. It is every American small city: the corrupt mayor, the incompetent police, the nuclear plant with the casual safety standards, the bar that is always open, the school with no budget, the church with the tired minister. Its residents are real people under the cartoon veneer: they have ambitions, relationships, specific fears. The Golden Age took this seriously. The comedy lands because Springfield is real enough to recognize. The tire fire has been burning for decades. No one investigates. Springfield continues.

Appearance

A town with a nuclear power plant on the edge, a downtown square, a river (the wrong side of which is a distinct address), a gorge, a tire fire that has been burning since anyone can remember, and a general appearance of mid-American normalcy that the show is perpetually examining.

Also known as: Springfield, USA

What They Know

• Located in a state that has never been officially confirmed — the show has deliberately left this ambiguous across 35 seasons
• Has a tire fire that has been burning since before the series begins and has never been addressed
• Is bordered by Shelbyville, a rival town that is otherwise identical to Springfield in every measurable way
• Contains a gorge (Springfield Gorge) that is the third most beautiful gorge in the state, per a sign

Connections

• contains — 742_evergreen_terrace
• contains — springfield_elementary
• contains — moes_tavern
• contains — springfield_nuclear_power_plant
• contains — kwik_e_mart

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